I've never taken tramadol and I hope I never will. A friend of mine had great difficulty in coming off it and she found out via forums that some people end up taking huge amounts.
Hello. Well, some people do get used to it and some don’t. On the whole it’s a drug that is often guilty of the symptoms you report quite often. Yes, you can become more used to it but some people have to give it up.
However, I worry on two accounts 1) What are you taking it for? The osteoarthritis? If you are having to take a mediumish opioid ( about a tenth of the strength of morphine) to get round daily life it must be moderately bad and I hope there’s some sort of plan for the future. Does your doc know this is how you’re taking it? If you’re taking it to be able to play a game I’d say you could be doing more damage than good because the messages from your knee that’s getting thrashed are blocked. Taking morphine to play badminton, that sounds mad to me because if it takes morphine to block the pain then he needs to ask himself what he’s doing to his back and it’s not what it’s meant for. Is he sacrificing his long term back health just to be able to get a few games in?
2) Opiates are highly habit forming and dependency will happen. You build up a tolersnce too so you become more resistant to its effects and need more to get the same effect. If your friend has had so many opioids it is quite likely he’s resistant to it now, it’s like taking a Paracetamol to him but it would put me in hospital.
Opioids work by blocking certain receptors in the brain, they don’t do anything for inflammation. All you’re doing is clubbing yourself over the head rather than help the inflamed bit.
Has the doc explained how bad the arthritis is and whether an op will be needed ? Have you been advised on levels of exercise to keep the knee going?
Paracetamol and codeine is the only one that works for me. I can't take aspirin or ibuprofen as I have stomach problems. Until fairly recently the only time I took painkillers was if I had a bad headache or migraine, or period pains when I had them. I'd just not thought of using them for any thing else!
My osteo is quite bad (stage 4) in places so need painkillers.
I have recently been prescribed Palexia slow release by my rheumy. 50mg x every 12 hours. I have to say that they are great for taking the edge off the pain. I can't take any nsaids because of my tum and I am codeine resistant.
I was one of the peeps still on Co-proxamol up until they finally stopped it at my gp last year so I am glad to have found something that works. On a lighter note the first side effects listed were constipation, weight loss and reduced appetite!
When I was nursing on an oncology ward, they wouldn’t prescribe tramadol, instead they prescribed a combination of codeine and paracetamol which was said to be just as effective as tramadol
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Update .. sad news good news
Me again 🐵
awful cough since starting suflasalazine alongside methotrexate 
Dental problems, prednisone, talking to rheumy
